Variety: The film, television actress, and theater actress was known for starring alongside Warren Beatty in 1990’s “Dick Tracy” as Tess Trueheart. She was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” as well as the 1996 Showtime film adaptation of “Bastard Out of Carolina.” She was in production on the Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg produced Hulu comedy series “Future Man” at the time of her death.

Atlas Obscura: The colorfully named Mutilated Currency Division at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is a small office of crack forensics that spend their days poring over all manner of defaced dollars. Provided for free as a public service, the Mutilated Currency employees labor to identify bits and fragments of identifiable denominations that can be redeemed at face value.

Probably no Wodehouse book is forgotten, but I'd never read any of the Mulliner books before, and maybe you haven't, either. Mr. Mulliner, the narrator of all the stories in this collection, is a gent who frequents a pub known as The Angler's Rest. Whenever anyone in the place brings up a topic, Mr. Mulliner has a story about it, and the story always involves one of his relatives, often a nephew. Some of the stories are vaguely crime or mystery related, and my favorite among these is "Strychnine in the Soup," which has some amusing comments about a bestselling mystery novel. And that reminds me of "Best Seller," which is about a young man in the publishing game. He can't stand romance novels, and he's engaged to a girl who's never written anything before but who writes a bestselling romance novel after their engagement. "The Smile that Wins" is about a detective with an odd smile. It makes people confess. There are two fine stories about cats, and every story here made me laugh. I don't think of any of them as top-shelf Wodehouse, but you can't go wrong with Wodehouse, no matter what shelf you're choosing from. If you need a laugh or a smile, you'll find plenty of both in this collection.

Table of Contents:"The Smile that Wins""The Story of Webster""Cats Will be Cats""The Knightly Quest of Mervyn""The Voice from the Past""Open House""Best Seller""Strychnine in the Soup""Gala Night"

The New York Times: Charles Simmons, whose five critically acclaimed novels included a savage sendup of The New York Times Book Review, where he had worked as an editor for three decades, died on June 1 in Manhattan. He was 92. Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

This weekend Robert E. Howard Days will be happening in Cross Plains, Texas. If you can't be there, you can celebrate by buying and reading a copy of this study of Howard's work.Amazon.com: Savage Scrolls: Volume One: Scholarship from the Hyborian Age eBook: Fred Blosser, Bob McLain: Kindle StoreRobert E. Howard's swashbuckling heroes strove mightily against fantastic foes and strode boldly across lands steeped in ancient sorcery, court intrigue, and fabulous wealth. In this vibrant traveler's guide, historian Fred Blosser chronicles the people, flora, fauna, and politics of REH's universe.

No Howard creation looms larger than Conan, and there's plenty of Conan in this book, but there's also much-needed coverage of Howard's other square-jawed heroes, including such equally bold though lesser-known adventurers as Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Black Vulmea, and Kirby O'Donnell.

In addition, Blosser examines Howard's wide oeuvre of pulp fiction, from horror and western tales, to his less successful detective yarns.

From Hyborian Age weaponry, justice, medicine, and mercenaries, to the beasts, villains, and nameless horrors of the African jungles, Central Asian mountain passes, and the haunted Texas town of Lost Knob in our own world, you'll experience anew the genius of Robert E. Howard through the tapestry from which he created his pulp masterpieces.

Forgotten Hits: Top debuts on the chart this week include a couple of my personal favorites from 1967 … "C'mon Marianne" by The Four Seasons debuts at #65, meaning that it'll soon be in competition with Frankie Valli's solo hit, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", which is currently the #20 song in America. Stevie Wonder premiers right behind it at #66 with "I Was Made To Love Her", The Dave Clark Five are back on the charts with their remake of "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby", new at #71, and Chicago's American Breed make their national chart debut at #85 with "Step Out Of Your Mind".

Dragon's Claw opens with Modesty Blaise sailing a yacht from Australia to New Zealand. She's alone and doing fine when she sees an inflatable boat with one passenger who's not doing fine at all. And a shark is after him. Modesty rescues the man, who turns to be Luke Fletcher, quite a famous artist who had mysteriously disappeared from England. He has no memory of how he came to be in the boat or where he's been. Modesty sees no reason to become involved in that mystery, but she does help Fletcher to begin painting again. And then he's murdered. That's a big mistake on the part of the killers, as Modesty vows to find them and repay them in kind. The main villain in the novel is a tad bland, but he has some colorful helpers, including a preacher who's a fast-draw and a killer, a nymphomaniac, and a fey heist mastermind. Modesty and Willie Garvin are eventually captured wind up on an escape-proof (ha!) island with them and a bunch of underling henchpersons, and the battle of wits and bullets really begins in earnest.Like all the Modesty Blaise stories and novels I've read, this one is a ton of over-the-top fun. I'll be reading another book in the series soon.

The Digest Enthusiast Book Six arrived at my house a couple of days ago, and it's great, as usual. Start with the cover. How can you go wrong with a gorilla on the cover? And the contents are equally good. So far I've read the interview with Edd Vick, the synopses of the stories in Manhunt, and the review of the card sets annotated by Max Allan Collins. Great stuff. You know you need this, so get a copy ASAP.• Digest News Previews of Rick Ollerman’s Down & Out: The Magazine #1, Karen Valentine’s Betty Fedora #4, Pulp Literature #15, The Pulpster #26, our joint venture with Uncle B. Publications, Pulp Modern, and much more.• Interviews with Edd Vick (Analog, Asimov’s)* and B.K. Stevens (AHMM).• Manhunt 1953 #1–4 synopses by Peter Enfantino of the greatest crime digest ever.tde6back_500• International Science Fiction #1 & 2 a fascinating look at this short-lived digest.• Bob Hope’s They Got Me Covered, a title that turned out to be all too true, by Steve Carper• Sharon Tate’s Fate, weird reporting on the horrific murder by Tom Brinkmann• Digest Dolls Trading Cards by Max Allan Collins• Weirdbook #34 reviewed• Fiction by Lesann Berry, Alec Cizak, and Joe Wehrle, Jr.• Artwork and cartoons by Brad W. Foster, Michael Neno, Bob Vojtko, and Joe Wehrle, Jr. Haiku by Clark DissmeyerTDE Book Six152 pagesPrint: $8.99 from amazon and select booksellersDigital: $2.99 for Kindle and Magzter

Tampa Bay Times: Is there a crime-fighting movie from the entire ’80s that can possibly live up to The Untouchables? Released June 3, 1987, Brian De Palma’s retelling of Prohibition-era Chicago and the battle between Eliot Ness and Al Capone was an instant classic.

2017 Howard Days coming this weekend to Cross Plains: The annual Robert E. Howard Days return this Friday and Saturday to Cross Plains, celebrating the life and work of the acclaimed author and Conan the Barbarian creator. The event will include tours of Howard’s home, bus tours, a silent auction, a swap meet, panel discussions, a poetry reading and lots of food as Howard enthusiasts from across the country join together to remember the literary pioneer.

Smithsonian: Now, reports the Associated Press, Dylan appears to have overcome his final layer of Nobel Prize shyness by delivering the prize lecture. Though the Swedish Academy confirms it has received the lecture, the AP reports that they have not acknowledged where it was given, to whom, or when. What they have done is provide the lecture itself: a rambling acknowledgment of Dylan’s many musical and literary influences. Dylan ruminates on the influence of Buddy Holly, whom he calls “everything I wasn't and wanted to be,” and praises artists like blues legend Lead Belly and Appalachian folk singers as sources of early musical inspiration.

In a Valley of Violence is an imitation spaghetti western from 2016. The opening credits might as well have been filmed in 1968, and the music will remind you of that era as well.

A man named Paul (Ethan Hawke) is the enigmatic "hero," who drifts into the isolated town of Denton, along with his dog, Abby. A group of bullies, led by Gilly (James Ransome), the son of the town marshal (John Travolta) get on his case, and Gilly is determined to fight him. One punch is all it takes Paul to humiliate Gilly, who later gets revenge [BIG SPOILER] by killing Paul's dog, in a scene I found hard to take [END OF BIG SPOILER], and believing that he and his buddies have killed Paul. They haven't, and Paul is going to get his own revenge, by killing Gilly and his pals.

You already know how this one will play out. There's the added attraction of Travolta trying to persuade Paul not to kill everybody, and of the young woman, Mary-Anne (Taissa Farmiga) who's attracted to Paul.

The movie's short and moves in a straight line from beginning to end. It has some amusing moments and at times verges on an affectionate parody of spaghetti westerns. My favorite in this area remains The Quick and the Dead, but this one was okay. Except for the one scene I mentioned above. Check it out if you have an interest in current westerns, of which there aren't many. And if you can take scenes like the one mentioned in the spoiler above.

Monday, June 05, 2017

NY Daily News: Peter Sallis, the veteran British actor who had a late-career renaissance voicing a cheese-obsessed human half of the Wallace and Gromit duo, has died. He was 96. Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Well, I saw the retina specialist, who told me that there are two thread-like veins going into the retina. One takes the blood in, and one takes it out. In my case the one taking it out is partially blocked. The treatment, as I mentioned, is a shot in the eyeball, which I had this morning. The doctor said that my case was more severe than most and that I had a chance of recovering some or none of my vision. He said it’s possible that I’ll be essentially one-eyed from now on. I’d hoped for a better diagnosis, but I’ll deal with this one. Dagnabbit.

My sister has always been a water sprite, and here she is long ago, standing on the beach in Galveston at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and waving to the camera. Off to the left in the background, my brother and I wade ou, holding hands with my mother. Francelle is smart, talented, and the strongest person I know. Happy birthday, sis!

Forgotten Hits: June 5th: Aretha Franklin holds down the #1 spot with "Respect" this week. In fact, The Top Five songs in America ALL hold their positions from the week before: "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings is at #2, "Groovin'" by The Young Rascals holds at #3, "Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck stands tough at #4 and "Creeque Alley" by The Mamas and the Papas remains at #5. ("Mirage" by Tommy James and the Shondells also holds the #10 position from the week before.)

I don't post a lot of personal stuff here, but I thought I'd mention my latest adventure. About 11:00 P. M. on Friday night, a blood vessel burst in my right eye. A big black blotch soon covered the center of my eyeball. I didn't know what had happened, but I figured it was either that or a detached retina. There wasn't anything I could do at the time, but the next morning I started calling eye doctors. I managed to get squeezed in with an on-call doctor who took a lot of pictures of my eye and diagnosed the problem. Today I'll be seeing the retina specialist, but the on-call doctor told me that the problem would most likely be treated by a series of injections in my eyeball. Just what I wanted to hear. I know people who've been treated for this same thing with eye drops, but whenever things happen to me, the easy way never seems to work out. So that's the latest. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, send me some good thoughts, or whatever tickles your fancy.

The Boxer and The Professor: Friendships of the Lost Generation | Literary Hub: In the early summer of 1924 two American writers sat in a Paris café. One author came armed with a dictionary, believing that reading the small type would improve his vision. The other brought a King James edition of the Bible. They took turns reading passages aloud from the Old Testament. The Chronicles and Kings were their favorites, along with the Song of Deborah.

Judy and I were married on June 4, 1965, fifty-two years ago. I miss her every minute of every day. People tell me to remember the good times, and I surely do, but that just makes me miss her more. There are some things you just don't get over.